Lok Sabha Debates
Regarding Periodic Replacement Of Processors In Cochlear Implants -Laid. on 29 November, 2021
Seventeenth Loksabha an> Title: Regarding periodic replacement of processors in Cochlear implants -laid.
SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SADANAND SULE (BARAMATI): Under the AIDP scheme, deaf children are fitted with cochlear implants, to enhance their quality of life by reducing the effects of disabilities. Since the recipients are children who have an active lifestyle, their sweat and body heat affect the external devices, and sometimes the processors in cochlear implants are beyond repair. In addition, these devices have natural aging along with their wear and tear. And when it happens, the replacement of processors is beyond the financial limit of their families (repair cost is estimated to be Rs.85,000/- or more). Because of this, many children are forced to become nonusers of cochlear implants, affecting their age-appropriate language development and pushing them into isolated social life. Thus there is a strong need for periodic replacement of processors in cochlear implants in children two to three times until the child enters into self-reliant adulthood, as part of AIDP scheme.